How to Maintain Momentum While Starting a Business

Some people in life will tell you that figuring out what you want to do is the hard part. Honestly, I can’t completely agree. Once I realized that I wanted to create my own company as a Holistic Health and Wellness Coach, I found out that deciding how to move forward when starting a business can be just as challenging! If you’ve recently discovered your passion, but aren’t sure how to make the jump from vision to reality, join me here. I want to share with you what I’ve learned by navigating the wild and wonderful world of turning a daydream into a day job.

Just take action.

One of the first things I learned in building my own business is it is way too easy to get stuck in the research, planning, and preparation phase. Instead of moving forward, we end up never actually doing anything. The truth is that you will never know everything that there is to know or feel truly ready. So, just start. Take whatever small steps feel manageable. Grow your confidence with each success. It can be as simple as starting to attend networking events for your industry, or starting to build an online presence as an identifiable brand. The steps of starting a business may feel uncomfortable at first, but over time you’ll begin to build momentum, valuable experience, and create supportive connections.

Drop the perfectionism.

Perfectionism may seem like a supporting quality to create something truly great, but more often than not it is a cleverly disguised method of self-sabotage. Perfection is an ideal that exists on a continuously receding horizon. But if we wait for everything to be refined, we set ourselves up for a classic case of failure to launch. While it’s certainly important to put your best work out into the world, I’m a big believer in the idea that “done is better than perfect”.

If you’re having trouble letting your creation go into the world, try reconnecting with your original mission.

Focus on who you hope to support, and what you want to offer them. Ask yourself what it would mean if the people who would benefit from your specific gifts never had the opportunity to receive them. Then, take a deep breath, and put your perfectly imperfect work out there.

Don’t be afraid to fail.

Better yet, shift your whole mental framework so that failure doesn’t exist. I used to be petrified by the idea of failure. I subscribed to the hair-brained notion that I had to excel at everything, and on my first try. Not only did this perspective place massive amounts of pressure on everything I did, it left me so paralyzed with fear that I would rarely take on anything I wasn’t certain I could do well. Talk about limiting!

In time, you discover that failure really isn’t a possibility.

Thankfully, I learned to loosen up, take risks, give myself grace, and just laugh when I didn’t knock something out of the park. We can either succeed, or learn something to help us succeed in the future. To me, that means there is no loss.

Break it down.

When you have a big vision, just thinking through all it will take to come to fruition can be overwhelming. In order to avoid burnout, break big goals down into smaller, actionable items. I recommend working backwards from your desired endpoint and asking yourself what needs to happen for each milestone along the way. Once you have created a flow chart of all of the steps of this project, calendar out key timeline points so you have a clear schedule of how to meet your desired goal.

Pace yourself.

I can tell you from personal experience that starting a business, or really creating anything at all, is a delicate balance of action and patience. Whether you’re trying to turn a side-hustle into your bread and butter, or you’re already all in, remember that anything worth building takes time. No matter if you can accomplish one thing a month, a week, or a day, the point is that your efforts are steady and dedicated.

Practicing endurance will give you a boost of satisfaction every time you knock out a task, and keep a balanced momentum as you make progress. Just remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself accordingly, and make this journey of sharing your talents with the world an enjoyable one.

Ashley Berry

Ashley Berry is an LA-based Holistic Health Coach and Wellness Writer. She graduated from UC Berkeley with Bachelors of Arts in Psychology and Sociology and received her Health Coaching certification from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition®. She believes in the power of authenticity and intentional living and is deeply passionate about supporting others who wish to create their very best lives through radiant health in mind, body, and spirit.